Electrical connectors typically include an outer dielectric housing surrounding an array of terminals to insulate the terminals and prevent the terminals from contacting any other electrical apparatus. The terminals often are of the axial connectable type in which male and female terminals of complementary connectors are axially mated in order to make an electrical connection. To effect axial connection of the terminals, a mating force must be applied to the terminals and, because the terminals are encased within their respective connector housings, the terminals may become detached from their respective housings unless they are properly retained therewithin.
A variety of approaches have been employed for retaining terminals within connector housings. Generally, two approaches are most common. First, the terminals may be inserted into their respective housings and retained therein by appropriate locking means with no further steps required. These types of connectors often are undesirable because of the rather high insertion forces required to insert the terminals into their respective housings. If excessive insertion forces are compromised, the retention forces of the terminals may be inadequate.
A second approach which has been used to achieve both low insertion forces for inserting the terminals into their respective housings, while at the same time providing a connector assembly in which high forces are required to separate the terminals from their respective housings, is to use multiple component housings in which a separate spacer or locking device is employed to retain the terminals within their respective housings after the terminals are inserted into the housings with low insertion forces.
Generally, a typical electrical connector employing the second approach, above, includes a dielectric housing having passages for receiving the terminals. Resilient latches are provided by the housing, and the latches include projections for engaging the terminals in the passages. The housing has receptacles adjacent the resilient latches, and a lock means is inserted into the receptacles for limiting movement of the resilient latches and thereby maintaining the projections in latching engagement with the terminals.
As stated, the second approach requires multiple component housings. This may be undesirable particularly when the connectors embody other features which may require still further components. For instance, the connectors may have external environmental seals, whereby one connector is inserted into a complementary connector, with a seal ring or the like thereabout. Often, still additional components are required to maintain the seals in their proper positions. The overall result is that the electrical connectors become unduly complicated and are not cost effective because of the number of components required to make up the entire connector assembly.
This invention is directed to solving the above problems by providing a unique, simple electrical connector which utilizes a locking member which performs the multiple functions of (a) defining a mating face of the connector, (b) locking the terminals within the connector housing and (c) retaining a seal about the periphery of the housing, all functions being accomplished by a single easily fabricated component.